Ohio Congressman Says Action Is Needed to Protect Religious Liberty in the Light of the Supreme Court’s Recent Redefinition of Marriage’
U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) is leading a group of at least 51 Republicans, urging President Donald Trump to strip protections from LGBT people under the guise of religious liberty, which is already protected by the First Amendment. Davidson, who ran for former Speaker John Boehner’s seat in June of 2016 in a special election and won again in November, is a member of the far right wing Freedom Caucus, and a fervent Trump supporter.
Urging the signing of the draft executive order that was leaked in February, Rep. Davidson and 50 other House Republicans in a letter to President Trump say action is needed “to protect religious liberty in the light of the Supreme Court’s recent redefinition of marriage.”
The letter, dated April 5, was first reported by USA Today Monday afternoon. The paper reports Rep. Davidson “led the charge on the April letter.”
In the letter, Republicans falsely claim that rescinding any Obama-era executive orders they mention does “not take anything away from anyone,” but merely provides “a shield from federal assaults on religious freedom.”
USA Today reports Rep. Davidson and the other 50 House Republicans are calling for Trump to both rescind the Obama executive orders specifically protecting LGBT people in the workplace, and sign the leaked “religious liberty” executive order that effectively would have rescinded the Obama-era protections.Â
Heralding the unconstitutional First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), a bill that is a federal license for any person, organization, company, or government agent to discriminate against not only LGBT people, but anyone they perceive as holding a belief that marriage is anything other than one man-one-woman, and that sex should only be allowed inside a man-woman marriage, the letter says signing the leaked religious liberty executive order is necessary until Congress passes FADA.
Rep. Davidson’s letter also urges President Trump to sign the repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which bans most 501(c)(3) non-profits, including all churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious institutions, from donating money to political candidates or advocating for or against them. He calls it “restoring the free speech rights of charities and churches threatened by the unconstitutional nature of the Johnson Amendment.”
American taxpayers are forced to pay about $80 billion in taxes each year to make up for the tax-exempt status of religious institutions, including churches and other religious groups.
The letter, five pages including signatures, also rails agains the Obama-era contraception mandate that is part of the Affordable Care Act, and urges protections for health care workers who do not wish to take part in any activity that could be seen as supporting abortion.Â
USA Today reports “on Monday, a senior White House official told USA TODAY that some sort of policy to protect religious liberty is still in the works, but that the president is trying to find middle ground. The official did not want to publicly discuss a policy that is still under development.”
In an interview with USA Today, Rep. Davidson exhibited an extremely narrow view of America.
“Fundamentally, to Christians, you can’t say ‘we’re going to protect your First Amendment rights and be the way they’ve always been.’ But now, to the Catholic church: ‘if you want to place a baby for adoption you have to also place them with same-sex couples’ and the church says ‘that’s an affront to our doctrine.’ You can’t have it both ways,†he told USA TODAY.
“It strikes me that broadly, in general, progressives have been pretty welcoming to Muslims and have been very upset with the president and his tone with Muslims. I think this could be something that could be seen as a way to reach out and say, ‘no, the First Amendment applies to everyone in America,’ †Davidson said.Â
On Facebook, Rep. Davidson today writes, “President Trump has been courageous in following through on his campaign promises. The 51 members who signed this letter have his back when he takes steps to protect religious liberty.”
Interestingly, USA Today notes that “a similar letter was sent by Senate Republicans earlier this month” to the President. That letter is dated April 3. In an April 5 article the paper says the letter is signed by 18 GOP Senators.
It seems likely a far right wing group is behind the drafting of both letters.
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